9 things they don't tell you about Seoul 🇰🇷
Fly me to Seoul 🦭
For now I wouldn’t know what those 9 things are about Seoul but you can join Hurae for an inspiration trip to South Korea in October and we can find out together! 💞
From a broken nation after the war to one of the fastest-growing economies in the world: South Korea is a modern miracle. In just 60 years, it became one of the richest countries in the world. Its capital, Seoul, is a hyper-modern metropolis where discipline, digital perfection, and chaotic creativity effortlessly coexist. Comparisons with Japan are easily made, but Seoul is rougher, more expressive, more vibrant. Join us and discover how creativity, technology, and innovation intersect in one of the most progressive cities in the world. Together with a select group of future-forward thinkers, we will take you on a carefully curated week-long journey. Real-life trendwatching. The best way to expand your mind.
What will you experience?
Visits to places like Gentle Monster, Hyundai, KidZania, TikTok hotspots, and K-pop agencies. Themes: digital security/inclusion, culture vs. tech, creativity as a business driver. Korean BBQs, hidden cafés, street markets, and zen moments. Hannes, Cleo & Aartina are coming. JOIN US!
Must reads 👀
A lot of clients come to Hurae because they want to stand out: “something different”. On Tiktok, Telegram, Snapchat, or just in the streets.
It's hard to explain how we at Hurae set out to fulfill that desire but a big part of it is absorbing a lot of knowledge. About artists, about life, about technology. About everything. So we read up a lot on trends and we are always happy to share that knowledge with you. By giving some examples you can understand how our brain works:
When the world feels too heavy, the answer isn't more scrolling—it's more reading. 📚 Our instinct might be to scroll more, to stay constantly connected to the news cycle. But the result? We become short-tempered, black-and-white thinkers, seeing enemies instead of humans.
Hurae insight: engaging in real life experiences are always a good idea. It could be reading. But it could also be making a mixtape. On a cassette. Or making beautiful travel diaries. Or what if we could organise an event without an online presence and make a 100 people showing up? ✨This is amazing but so so stupid: ‘Space Advertising’ Could Outshine the Stars—Unless It’s Banned First. Astronomers are racing to protect the dark skies as private companies seek to place large advertisements in Earth orbit. 👾
Hurae insight: or we could just try to waste less space on advertising? Or use the billboards for serene campaigns? Good idea by Calm, the meditation app. 🌏At this swanky L.A party, grab a martini, vibe to music and ... play Rummikub?After discovering and falling in love with the game Rummikub, friends Marnie Wekselblatt and Laura Galvan started a group called RummiKlub so they could play it with others in a chic environment. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, tabletop game clubs — everything from Mahjong to chess — have been growing in popularity in Los Angeles. 🎲
Hurae example: we are currently in the end process of releasing a boardgame for one of our clients and this would be an excellent idea to launch the game.Welcome to slop world: how the hostile internet is driving us crazy
The last bits of fellowship and ingenuity on the web are being swept away by a tide of so-called artificial intelligence. “Suppose someone invented an instrument, a convenient little talking tube which, say, could be heard over the whole land... I wonder if the police would not forbid it, fearing that the whole country would become mentally deranged if it were used.” — Kierkegaard’s Journals and Notebooks, 1843-1855
How People Are Really Using Gen AI in 2025
Therapy (more on this one later) is the new top use case. There are two other entrants in the top 5: “Organizing my life” and “Finding purpose.” These three uses reflect efforts toward self-actualization, marking a shift from technical to more emotive applications over the past year.
Hurae insight: are we really handing our emotions over to AI? (yes I am 🥲) we should at least try to guide people how to do it properly. Is ‘Te Gek?’ working on that?Pinterest is prompting teens to close the app at school 💙
Minors will be encouraged to ‘stay in the moment’ and shut Pinterest until the end of the school day.
Hurae insight: not all what’s digital is evil. I hate how polarized everything gets. I like the initiative of Kidsunplugged but I don’t like how they are fixated by Jonathan Haidt. Everything is nuanced. But I still won’t give my son a phone very soon. Also: Social media is not wholly terrible for teen mental health, study says. According to a study conducted by the Pew Research Center, 74% of U.S. teens said social media makes them feel more connected to their friends, with 63% saying that online platforms give them a place to express their creativity.Fun & smart idea: Unilever-owned cleaning brand Cif has launched a podcast sponsorship campaign that sees it cleaning away dirty words. Cif will now sponsor swear words on podcasts, TV shows and live streams, replacing the classic beep that censors explicit language with its logo and branded sound, ‘CIIIIIF’.
A Strange Stain in the Sky: How Silicon Valley Is Preparing A Coup Against Democracy The Russian historian Alexei Yurchak calls the situation in which we live today hypernormality. Yurchak coined the term to describe the social climate of the last years of the Soviet Union, in which, he says, everyone was aware that the system was about to collapse, but everyone pretended that nothing was happening. Citizens knew the system was breaking down. Politicians knew it. Everyone knew that everyone else knew too. But because no one could imagine a clear alternative, a simulacrum of normality eventually imposed itself.
Dubai is opening an influencer academy—and they’ll pay you to join
Funded by Dubai’s tourism board and a top travel agency, the new “Beautiful Destinations Academy” offers paid training, luxury living, and career opportunities for aspiring content creators. 🦭
We’re finally seeing the impact of AI on search and it’s not pretty. According to a study conducted in February by Bain & Company, “about 60% of searches now end without the user progressing to another destination site.” Which is a startling figure. Even more startling, they estimate that the rise of what they’re calling “zero-click” searches, is reducing web traffic by about 25% across the board. An apocalyptic scenario with no real fix in sight 👩🏾🦯
Gen Z is leading the charge back to the office 🏠
Workers under 24 are spending 3.1 days a week, more than any other generation, per JLL data. Young employees say in-person work helps build relationships and creativity — as one 22-year-old puts it, Gen Z doesn’t want their twenties spent “sat at home with lots of Zoom calls,” a sentiment I see reflected on my own social feeds (“if you’re under 30, there’s no reason you should be working from home”). At the same time, they demand autonomy and will quit if forced back into the office five days a week.World's first 'sperm race' goes off with a bang in LA
Two college students battled it out to the finish line in a ‘sperm race’ on Friday, dubbed the ‘world’s first ever reproductive health competition.’ 🥇
10 years ago, Vincent and me did a weekly thing on Iedereen Beroemd. Very silly 👀
Hurae - Experiental Marketing 🧗🏼♂️
Most agencies think out of the box. We think out of the blue. Or out of this world. We think of anything that gets people talking about your brand. Offline & online. The best content is not necessarily created for social media, but content that gets talked about on social media. Eyes Eyes Baby!
Some recent things we did/do:
Let your kid become an influencer at Molecule! This saturday.
A cool video shoot of Heylen Vastgoed with a lot of celebs. More news soon.
A shoot for Lotus with Shauna Dewit
Want to get in touch?
Email us at info@hurae.com
Follow me on Instagram
Follow me on LinkedIn
